Writer. Musician.

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The world of waiting

I like the quote that Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode used to talk about the years he had already worked in the music business. He got the quote from Keith Richards originally but I don’t think it’s only true for rock stars…

“It’s five years of work and the rest is waiting.”

We wait so much of our lives and you just know for a fact that there is…oh lots more to go. As I write this (originally) I’m early for work and so I’m simply waiting as well. Some folks naturally don’t like to wait. I probably don’t much of the time as well as there is lots of things to do with creative work where it’s not one event after another. So much of what I do is scheduling (as my many employers can understandably talk about) and that naturally leads to those in between times when you are simply waiting on the green light to get going. But since we know that the waiting is going to happen I think that it’s almost empowering.
I mean, we now have these sometimes leash like mobile devices and if you “do social media” that is certainly one way to use up that time when we line up for a ticket, a coffee, purchasing a new shirt but there also just that opportunity to be more present in the moment.

This is one thing that is great about kids. They are utterly self aware and in the moment. They notice everything, and as we know, they are only too ready to tell you about it. Ok, this shouldn’t be confused with patience as spending any time at a religious (or otherwise) service can tell you but that’s just because they have been told to quell their natural exuberance. But as a busker, kids are awesome because they will often halt their parents who are cannoning from one very important thing to the next very important thing to pull at mom’s coat and exclaim…

“Mommy! Look! Guitar!”

I owe their union a lot of money for this. It’s about being relaxed that things will work out and just setting off early so you’re not late. Don’t line up if you can’t. Don’t take on more than you can. You don’t need to be perfect. You’ll have plenty of time to wait tomorrow too.

But then I’m probably just an early bird. Victoria is wonderful first thing in the early morning. Give yourself the time to enjoy those little details of her city because there is lots of them. That’s actually one thing I’ve really enjoyed about working on my own twitter and my project accounts…when reaching out to the city to tell everybody that we are here I’ve learned how much is really going on that you can get involved in. This city was founded on a Gold Rush and a sudden influx of people from all over the globe. With a background like that set on the Pacific Coast there is always another thing to see. So step out of your own blinders when you have no option but to wait. You could be surprised to find out where your really standing.